Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Admiral Sir Arthur Cochrane during the Crimean War devised some new weapons to be used against the Russian. These included explosion vessels and stink ships, which were ships loaded with coke and sulphur which, when ignited, would emit a suffocating fog.

Another of his schemes was the use of twelve foot kites towing torpedoes into enemy ships. The method was successfully implemented in practice runs, but was found to be impractical in actual use. The reason being that prevailing winds and the location of enemy ships were not always favorable.